A church service is not a housegroup

It would be an interesting study to make a pie chart of the way time is used in a church service. I know I have droned on about this before, but yesterday was a case in point.

If we, as humans, see the need to worship an almighty being, learn from scripture and improve our outlook on the world and towards our fellow humans, then the hour a week most of us devote to this needs to be rather more productive and inspiring.

To start a service with "Show and Tell church" seems to be a waste of time. I don't mind the old, "Let us spend a moment in quiet prayer as we remember the many blessings God has bestowed on us this week". To expect people to share details of their personal lives can be invasive and it makes me cringe, to be honest. When the invitation goes out there is often a silence until some brave soul comes up with something mundane. So often what people are thankful for veers towards the "God helped me find  a parking space" type of comment. There are some which go deeper such as the lady who was thankful for increased confidence after a period when life had been cruel to her, resulting in her confidence being sapped.

When I attended an Evangelical church it was common for members of the congregation to 'share'. Indeed I did so myself because I had briefly (I thought) 'Got' religion. So, what I think is happening in the 21st century church is that 'normal' C of E services are having aspects of the evangelical tradition introduced and - I am afraid, at least for me - it does not work. The English church attendee of a certain age (55+) does not want to be all luvvy-duvvy and open. I digress, slightly.

So too much time is taken up chatting and letting people chat. This can be fine in a house group but a service is not, IMHO, a housegroup.

Add in notices & announcements, directed prayers (consecration) and a long sermon (to a captive audience) and much of the time is spent listening and not on active worship. I guess some 10-12 minutes of an hour (+) are spent singing whilst up to 6 minutes are spent saying the Creed and other parts which require folk to join in.

What I also find annoying is the frequent change from one mood to another. A topic for another day?